Vegan Kale Caesar Salad with Crispy Spiralized Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Tomatoes

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday! As I'm sure you can tell from my blog name, one of my favorite things to eat is a fresh kale salad. At times, a little bit of lemon, olive oil, or balsamic vinegar can suffice, but sometimes I just crave a heartier and more flavorful dressing.

When I discovered that soaked cashews make amazing, creamy dressings, they became my go-to for salads (see my Caesar dressing and Green Goddess dressing). But lately, I've also been experimenting with tahini, another great vegan/dairy-free and healthful option. So today, I thought it would be fun to create a Caesar dressing using tahini instead of soaked cashews. This can help solve the problem of needing to prep the cashews overnight-- you can make this dressing instantly! 

Ingredients (serves 1)

• About 5 stalks of fresh kale 
• A handful of cherry tomatoes
• 2 small sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

For dressing

• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 small lemon
• Black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel and spiralize your sweet potatoes and toss in coconut oil. Place on tinfoil on a baking sheet and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are crispy. If you have a toaster oven, preheat it to 425 and roast cherry tomatoes (drizzled with a bit of olive oil) for about 20 minutes. If you don't have another oven, do this step before after you cook your sweet potatoes. 

2. Break your leaves of kale into small pieces. Place them in a large bowl and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over leaves (and if you want, a sprinkle of salt) and massage kale until soft (this makes the leaves softer and less bitter). 

3. Blend dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. If your dressing is too thick, feel free to add extra lemon or olive oil to make thinner.

4. Toss your kale leaves in dressing and top with sweet potatoes and tomatoes. 

Optional: For added protein, chickpeas (roasted or not) taste great with the rest of your salad ingredients. 

What are your favorite kale salads?!

Don't forget! You can buy a copy of my Spiralizer Recipe Book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble!